G.D.Srivastava, J. - (1.) THERE are two connected appeals arising out of the judgment of I Additional Sessions Judge, Bareilly. Criminal Appeal No. 1628 of 1972 is by Sher Singh while the other appeal is by Shyama Charan, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Ved Prakash. All these four appellants have been convicted under Sections 408 and 467 IPC read with Section 120-B IPC and each appellant has been awarded a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for four years under each count. Each appellant has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 3000/- under Section 408 IPC in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year. The two sentences have been ordered to run con currently.
(2.) THE case relates to criminal breach of trust in respect of a sum of Rs. 8439.35 paise belonging to the District Co-operative Cane Supply Society, Bareilly. THE Society used to purchase sugarcane for supply it to H. R. Sugar Factory, Bareilly. For the purpose of purchasing sugarcane, the society had opened various purchasing centres, and the instant case relates to Alampur purchasing centre. THE supply used to be made in pursuance of Sattas that is to say agreements between the cultivators and the Society. It may be useful to give some details about the method of working. THE sugarcane brought at the centre used to be weighed in presence of two weighment clerks, one on behalf of the Factory and the other on behalf of the Society. THE weight was recorded in the supply ticket and the pass book. Both the weighment clerks used to prepare their separate weighment sheets. THE weighment clerk of the Factory used to prepare parchis in quadruplicate of four different colours bound in books of fifty each and bearing distinct numbers arranged, in serial number. THEse parchis used to be signed by both the weighment clerks. THE first two foils and the pass book used to be given to the cane supplier and they were to be presented for obtaining payment. THE third foil was to be sent along with the weighment sheet to the office of the Factory while the fourth foil used to remain in the book itself. THE cane supplier used to present the first foil along with his pass book to the Society's checker who used to make the checking with the help of Society's ledger and the supplier's pass book. After this checking, the parchi was to be sent to the payment clerk for final payment. THEre seems to be no controversy in this case regarding the method of supply and payment. The dispute in the instant case relates to certain payments which were made between 28th and 30th March, 1966. Dnring the relevant period, appellant Shyam Charan was the weightment clerk on behalf of the Society, appellant Sher Singh was the weigh ment clerk for the Factory, appellant Bhanu Pratap Singh was the payment clerk while the appellant Ved Prakash was the checker. Now the prosecution case is that on 3-4-1966, Firozul Rehman, Honorary Secretary of the Society receiv ed an information that during the afore said period some fictitious parchis have been issued on the basis of which wrongful payment have been made to fictitious persons. On receiving this information, he examined the payment sheets, the parchis and tallied them with the weighment sheets and daily reports. The names of those suppliers were not mentioned in the daily reports. He, therefore, went to Alampur centre on the same date at 4 p.m. and enquired from appellant Sher Singh about the parchi books. He noticed that certain parchis were missing from book Nos. 4466, 4447 and 4469. The total number of the missing parchis were found to be twenty-one. Parchi book No. 4470 was found to be missing as a whole. The Secretary, therefore, prepared an inspec tion note and on 5-4-1966 he sent a report to police station Kotwali, on the basis of which a case was registered. The investigation was taken up by Sub-Inspector M.M. Khan who looked into the various records, recorded statements of the witnesses and took in custody some of the relevant docu ments. On 28-6-1968 the investigation was taken up by Sub- Inspector Yad Ali of the S.I.S. who submitted charge-sheet on 30-11-1969. A number of witnesses were examined by the prosecution to prove different parts of the prosecution story. Asharfi Lal (P.W. 1), Ram Bharose (P.W. 2), Angnu (P.W. 3), Ram Charan (P.W. 5), Brij Bhoosan Lal (P.W. 9), Ali Ahmad (P.W. 6), Din Dayal (P.W. 10), Anokhe Lal (P.W. 11) and Roop Ram (P.W. 16) were examined to prove that the names of suppliers as mentioned in the parchis were fictitious and that no persons bearing such names really existed. Among the employees of the Society and the Factory are the statements of Devi Das (PW 7), Rameshwar Dayal Saxena (PW 8), Kishan Lal Kapoor (PW 12), Paras Ram (PW 13), Rameshwar Singh (PW 14), Shyam Swaroop Jauhari (PW 15), Jai Shankar (PW 17;, Shiv Nandan Pd. (PW 19) and Firozul Reh-man(PW22). Sri Shiv Ram Singh (PW 23) is the handwriting expert who examined the writing on the disputed parchis and compared them with the admitted writings of appellants Shyama Charan. He came to the conclusion that those parchis had been written by Shyama Charan. The rest of the oral evidence is more or less of a formal nature.
(3.) ALL the appellants admitted that they were holding the said posts in the Society and the Factory during the aforesaid period. Appellant Shyama Charan denied having written the dis puted parchis and challenged the opinion of the Handwriting Expert. Appellant Sher Singh admitted that he had received ten parchi books and he also admitted that on 3-4-1966 Firozul Rehman visited his centre and he found that book No. 4470 was missing and that some parchis were missing from books Nos. 4466 to 4469. He also said that somebody had committed theft of the aforesaid parchis for which he had given information to the police. Appellant Bhanu Pratap Singh said that he made the payments when the parchis were passed on to him after being checked, and that he did not know whether the names mentioned in those parchis were real or fictitious. He further said that he used to get his account checked every evening by the head cashier. Appellant Ved Prakash admitted that he checked the parchis marked Exts. Ka-3 to Ka-52, but he did not know whether the parchis were for ged or genuine. He also admitted having made entries in the cane ledger Exts. Ka-Sl to Ka-85. His main defence was that due to shortage of emplojces the work was not up-to-date and he was ins tructed by the Secretary, R. U. Khan to make the payment and make entry in the ledger because it was possible that entries in the ledger had not been made due to the work falling in arrears. No oral evidence was adduced by any of the appellants. The learned Sessions Judge came to the conclusion that the parchis in question were in fictitious names and therefore, payment on the basis of those parchis was wrong and unauthorised. The learned Sessions Judge also came to the conclusion that all these appellants had entered into a conspiracy to obtain wrongful payment in the names of ficti tious persons by preparing parchis in the names of fictitious persons and by mak ing fictitious entries in the other relevant documents. In view of these findings, he convicted and sentenced all these appellants as mentioned above. As has been noted above, there seems to be no controversy regarding the method of supply and payment. All the appellants admitted that they were work ing on their respective posts during the period in question. It may be noted in the beginning that according to the pro secution case, payment was obtained on the basis of seventy-one parchis marked Exts. Ka-3 to Ka-73. But so far as the checking of these parchis is concerned it appears that Exts. Ka-3 to Ka-52 were said to have been checked by appel lant Ved Prakash while the remaining parchis Exts. Ka-53 to Ka-73 were check ed by some person who had signed as K. Kapoor. It has also been seen above that the books of the disputed parchis were admittedly supplied to appellant Sher Singh and when the Secretary went for inspection, it was discovered that book No. 4470 was missing as a whole while some parchis were missing from four books nos. 4466 to 4469.;